Aliso Niguel High School

Aliso Niguel High School
Address
28000 Wolverine Way Aliso Viejo , California USA
Information
Type	Public high school
Established	1993
School district	Capistrano Unified School District
Principal	Charles Salter
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	4317 (as of 2006)
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Black, Teal and White
Mascot	Wolverine
Website	http://www.alisoniguel.com/

File:AlisoViejoCALM.GIF

located in
Aliso Viejo, California

Aliso Niguel High School is a four-year public school in Aliso Viejo, California. It is a part of the Capistrano Unified School District, founded in the fall of 1993. Its relatively large enrollment of over 4,000 students is drawn from the nearby communities of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. This school has also been credited to being a Blue Ribbon School, California Distinguished School, and New American High School.

History

Founded in the year 1993, it is located on a creek bed near Aliso Creek, which is a creek that connects to the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach. Aliso Niguel was the fourth high school that opened within the Capistrano Unified School District, and was one of the fastest growing schools in terms of student body, academics, and amounts of teachers. [1]

The school did not have athletic equipment and other amenities for students like the present day (i.e. football field, gymnasium, basketball courts), and they only had hallway classrooms and portables.

Although the high school started small (with about 1,400 students) in their first year, the high school grew rapidly over the years, and it still continues to grow in the present day.

Academics

Advanced Program and Honors courses

The school offers Advanced Placement and Honor Courses at all high school grade levels.

Advanced Program courses

Aliso Niguel offers Advanced Placement Program (AP) classes in AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language and Composition, AP French Language, AP European History, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics B, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP United States Government and Politics and AP United States History.

These classes are designed for a student who is doing well on his/her subject, and wants more challenge (in terms of background and detail) on that particular subject. These courses require certain specifications and requirements in order to get into a desired AP class. All AP classes require more work than regular classes, along with more frequent tests, more units to cover, summer homework before the school year, and much more assignments to be completed. They are all college-prep classes along with many other classes, and all of them can possibly help students to earn college.

Advanced Program testing

In the month of May, all students taking AP classes are required to take Advance Program (AP) testing, with the exception of AP Studio Art (which they will instead create their year-long portfolio assessment). AP testing will shows the student's proficiency of knowledge in a particular AP class, and the testing can also determine whether they can receive college credit by scoring on a 5-point scale of at least a 3 (5 being "extremely well qualified" to 1 being "no recommendation"). Typical AP tests consist of multiple-choice questions with free response and/or document based questions (DBQs).

Honor courses

Honor courses, are very similar to Advanced Program classes as it has the same type of qualifications. The differences are that there is no AP testing and those classes do not have summer homework.

Currently, Aliso Niguel High School only hosts Precalculus as an official honors course with teacher James Powers. [2]

California High School Exit Exam

The California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) is required by all students for graduation for the classes of 2006 and beyond. Students will start taking it in their sophomore (10th grade) year. If individuals fail to pass, they must retake it once every following school year until they pass on all materials of the exam. Otherwise, they will not earn a high school diploma, and there will be no exceptions.

The material on the exam, however, is generally considered to be easy material within the district for many students. The exam consists of Algebra 1 and materials covered in English II or English II Accelerated classes.

Given that Aliso Niguel's test scores on more advanced topics place it behind the other schools in CUSD, these CAHSEE scores suggest that Niguel Hills Middle School, Aliso Viejo Middle School, and Don Juan Avila Middle School are sending very capable students, who later fall behind their peers, to Aliso Niguel.

2005 Results: After taking the CAHSEE, Aliso Niguel scored within the top 90% of all schools in the state that serve 9-12th grades. 90% of all students that took the English Language Arts passed. 91% passed in the Math section.

Graduation credits and college prep courses

A minimum of 220 graduation credits is needed to graduate high school, as part of the Capistrano Unified School District's requirements. 70 of those credits are required from elective classes. All students earn 5 points of graduation credits for each semester for each class with a passing grade of "D" or better.

For the student graduation years of 2008 and beyond, there is a minimum level that is needed to be fulfilled in order to allow the student to graduate. The requirements are as follows: 40 credits (4 years) of college preparatory English, 20 credits (2 years) of Mathematics, 20 credits of Science (10 credits biological, 10 credits physical), 30 credits (3 years) Social Science, 10 credits (1 year) of Fine Arts electives, 20 credits of Physical Education electives (1 semester must be taken in freshmen year), 5 credits (1 semester) of Health. For individuals who did not score "normal grade level" (a RIT score of 228 or above) on their 8th grade Standardized Spring CORE Reading Test, they must take Reading Improvement (5 credits) or Reading Workshop (10 credits), depending on their RIT score, in their 9th grade year in high school.

In addition, all students must pass the California High School Exit Exam beginning in their sophomore (10th grade) year in order to graduate.

Athletics

Aliso Niguel's sports teams are known as the Wolverines. Most of them compete in the South Coast League, at the highest level of the California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section.

Volleyball

Aliso Niguel has an aspiring volleyball program. Coached by academic teachers Doug O'Brien and Dan Bornfeld, they practice through rigorous rehearsals and learn many skills needed to compete in the volleyball tournaments.

Football

In 1996, just their third year of existence, the Wolverine football team went 14-0, winning the Southern Section Division VIII championship, defeating Pacifica High School in the title game.

Now, the Wolverines have moved up a league, due to ongoing success in multiple sports. This includes the soccer (both girls and guys groups) and the track and field teams. The track and field team has won the sea view league the past 3 years. The Girls' Soccer team and the Boys' Soccer team, in the 2006-2007 year, had both obtained first place in the league. However, they failed to reach the CIF Championships.

Wrestling

This school hosts a professional high school wrestling [3] team for all high school grade levels. They are all directed under Matthew Orndoff, a wrestling teacher and an academic English teacher in Aliso Niguel. The team has wrestled during many performances against other high school wrestling teams at various locations within the surrounding area.

Cross country

The cross country team is directed by John Walsh, a cross country coach and a biology teacher. The team has led through many races, sprints, and marathons, including the 26.2-mile long Los Angeles Marathon. The team competes in these events annually.

Basketball

The school field house will be home to the Orange County Gladiators of the American Basketball Association when they begin play in fall 2007.

Many of these basketball performances were held in the school's main gym, along with in many other high school sites.

Pep squad

Coach Eric Anderson has coached both the varsity and junior varsity teams at Aliso Niguel since 2004 and has led both cheer squads (Varsity and Junior Varsity) to numerous national and international titles.

2005 Season: The Aliso Varsity cheer team won the USA first place national title.

2006 Season: The varsity cheer team won second at USA and the JV cheer team won first. In the 2006-2007 season the Varsity cheer team took home first place in every competition except for one in their division (small varsity coed level 5); including the USA national title grand champions, and first place on the international level in Hawaii.

Performing arts

Bands

All band classes are currently under the direction of Duane Otani, a music teacher of Aliso Niguel High School since the 2006-2007 school year. [4]

The high school band consists of instruments in the brass, woodwind, and percussion families: trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, French horn, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, flute, xylophone, bass drum, snare drum, and chimes.

Concert band

Starting in the 2007-2008 school year, the concert band will be the starting point in the band program for incoming students attending Aliso Niguel High School. The class will have a proposed group consisting of all incoming freshmen and other newcomers, and also with individuals who wish to play another instrument and have little or no previous experience on it. Basic intonation, musicality, and music theory will be strongly focused throughout the school year. At the end of the school year, any student in this class may audition for symphonic band (higher level of band), or possibly for directly into wind ensemble, for their next school year if they perform with exceptional skill levels. It is a strong recommendation that they take marching band as a dual enrollent in their schedule for P.E. (physical education) credits needed to graduate high school.

Symphonic band

Also starting in the 2007-2008 school year, Otani plans to create another band called the symphonic band. This is another type of band class for the students who have attained intermediate proficiency with their instrument. They learn harder skills of music usually starting their sophomore (10th grade) year. These skills include, but are not limited to, flexibility, endurance, and tone qualities. As the school year progresses, music difficulty becomes increasingly harder, thus motivating students to acquire more skills of music. They perform various pieces of music from many types of backgrounds. Along with wind ensemble, the concert band may also enroll in marching band for P.E. credits needed to graduate. Those highly competent enough can audition at the end of the school year, and if they qualify they can go into wind ensemble in their following school year.

Wind ensemble

The wind ensemble is the most advanced and the highest level class in all of Aliso Niguel High School's band classes. These students learn sophisticated understanding of music such as rhythms, key signatures, accents, and terminology. These students represented their high school and nicely reflected their entire band program by having such prestigious performances to various audiences. Advanced intonation and tone quality is precisely scruitinzed to maximize to the highest caliver of their instrument. Like any band, the students in wind ensemble may also enroll in marching band for P.E. credits that are needed to graduate.

Marching band

The Aliso Niguel Marching Band is a representative class that rehearses outdoors. As part of the Western Band Association, they perform in four marching competitions and participate in the WBA finals. They also perform in the Laguna Niguel Holiday Parade in the second Saturday in the month of December every year.

2005 Season: The marching band has performed in their competitions held at Northern Arizona University (located in Flagstaff, Arizona), Mission Viejo High School, Riverside Community College, and Trabuco Hills High School. In the WBA finals (which was held in Lakewood in the Los Angeles area), the marching band won an astounding 2nd place in the class AAA division.

2006 Season: The marching band performed and won various sweepstakes awards in local field show competitions at Newport Harbor High School, Valley View High School, Mission Viejo High School, and Trabuco Hills High School. In the WBA finals (which was held in Fresno, California), they won 4th place in the class AAA division. Adding to the success of the 2005 season, the band has won 1st place in percussion in the class AAA division finals. Also, the Color Guard won 1st place during prelims, and they beat the World Class guard, Beyer.

2007 Season: According to the ANHS 2007 Fall Marching Band calendar, the marching band will be performing competitions at Orange Coast College, Mission Viejo High School, Mission Hills High School, and Trabuco Hills High School. The WBA finals will be hosted in the Southern California area. The preliminaries will be hosted in Los Angeles Pierce College, and the finals will be hosted in East Los Angeles College. It is currently unknown whether the marching band will or will not have an overnight field trip for the finals this year.

Orchestra

Aliso Niguel hosts a prestigious orchestra program. With orchestra teacher Albert Jeung, his class consists of string instruments: cello, violin, viola, and double bass. [5]

The orchestra program represented themselves and Aliso Niguel as a whole to many local communities with their performances. They have also created a mass performance with the Aliso Niguel band program adding up to a total of at least 200 players combined. Their mass performances are usually held in their large gymnasium.

Students who wish to take the Orchestra class must audition on their orchestral instruments and show their best skills. Whether the student can make it into the class or not is entirely determined by the orchestra teacher.

Choir

There are four choir classes at Aliso Niguel, all directed under Jason Harney. His four classes are A Cappella, Madrigals, Men's Ensemble, and Women's Ensemble. [6]

Two of the choir classes, Men's Ensemble and Women's Ensemble, are open for all students to join. The second most advanced choir is the Bella Cantore, which is an auditioned choir for women. The most advanced choir is Madrigals, the school's chamber choir.

The advanced Madrigals and Bella Cantore choirs were invited to perform in Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2007. They toured New York and also sang in St. Paul's Chapel. Both choirs regularly perform at festivals in nearby universities, including the University of Redlands, Chapman University, the Soka University of America, California State University, Long Beach, and UCSB. They perform in four concerts of their own each year and in the choral department's Coffeehouse Cabaret.

Controversy

School dance ban

In September 2006, Charles Salter, the school's principal, canceled the remainder of all school dances in response to students "freak dancing" and arriving drunk to the first dance of the year. Salter stated that he would bring back dances if, and only if, students and parents could cooperate and develop a solution to "the problem." This story made headlines in regional news and appeared on many dancing-related websites.

The story gained widespread, national attention later that month when Salter stood his ground and decided to ban the school's annual Homecoming Dance, which caused him to become the source of much criticism with students and parents, alike.

The dance ban was covered by both the BBC, NPR and the national news program Geraldo at Large.

After not receiving their Homecoming 2006 dance, the principal reinstated the dances until extremely explicit rules that must be held to a higher degree. During the Winter Assembly in January 2007, the rules and regulations will be announced to the student body to explain the "do's" and "do not's" at future dances and the consequences of violating them. The first dance that the students are allowed to attend was the Winter Formal of February 2007. Although students are upset over losing their Homecoming dance, many are relieved that the ban has been lifted and hope that this will not happen again.

Many neighboring schools seemed to suffer worse restrictions due to the media outbreak on the "Dance" issues. Some schools go as far as to play 80's music in order to quell the "inappropriate dancing".

The Spring "Peace, Love, and Happiness" dance scheduled for March 2007 was canceled due to low ticket sales. Only fifteen (15) tickets were successfully sold. Many speculated that this was an attempt to demonstrate to the school's administration that they (the students) were not happy with the way the dances were now handled.

School vandalism

On June 17, 2007, Charles Salter sent out an e-mail about the school's vandalism that occurred in the middle of the night the day before he sent out the mass e-mail. Two individuals chopped out ten (10) trees near the football field by using power tools. Some trees were partially cut, while others were completely chopped down. Nonetheless, all those trees were removed from the campus. Salter stated that this enterprise costed the school district $10,000 to rehabilitate the situation, thus adding finiancial issues towards the school's budget. He also states that an award of $1,000 will be given to anyone who has significant information or evidence leading to the conviction of those individuals.

Clubs

• Associated Student Body (or ASB) is one of the largest and longest-running clubs on campus at Aliso Niguel High School. This club is made of about forty (40) people who have been appointed and elected to their positions.
• National Honor Society (or NHS) is also a long-running club that looks highly upon those who have a minimum of 3.8 GPA.
• California Scholarship Federation (or CSF) is another club that looks highly upon those who have a minimum of 3.6 GPA, while completing a given amount of community service to the surrounding area.

Miscellaneous

• Aliso Niguel High School now boasts an artificial turf football and soccer field added in and officially opened in early September 2006.
• The running track surrounding the football field, which was upgraded in January 2007, is an all-weather track complete with 9 lanes.
• The portable classrooms held at this school (located at the southern parking lot) will be demolished in 2009, and will be replaced by two-story classroom buildings.
• Starting with the class of 2006, all sophomores (10th graders) are required to pass the California High School Exit Exam to graduate high school.
• Aliso Niguel had only three dances throughout the 2006-2007 school year (Welcome Back, Winter Formal, and Prom Date 2007 dances). Some dances were cancelled, due to Charles Salter's dance ban on the Homecoming Dance (because of students' violent and sexual behavior) and cancellation to Peace, Love, and Happiness spring dance (because of low ticket sales and not enough students).
• For the Class of 2007 and previous classes, students were required to take the Career Education and Computer Applications (C.E.C.A.) course in order for the student to graduate. It is strongly recommended for students of the Class of 2008 and beyond.

Student ethnicity

Ethnicity This School State Average White, not Hispanic 70% 31% Asian 10% 8% Hispanic or Latino 9% 47% Multiple or No Response 5% 2% African American, not Hispanic 3% 8% Filipino 2% 3% Pacific Islander <1% <1% American Indian or Alaska Native <1% <1%

Notable alumni

• Sasha Cohen, Olympic figure skater
• William Freund, double-murder suicide gunman.
• Ivan Koumaev, contestant on the show So You Think You Can Dance
• Josh Partington, guitarist of Something Corporate
• Derek Lee Rock, drummer for ska band Suburban Legends
• Skip Schumaker, MLB Outfielder, Stl. Cardinals

Sources

• Aliso Niguel Homepage
• GreatSchools.net
• Aliso Niguel Awards
• Wolverine Wrestling
• Instrumental Music Program

External links

• Aliso Niguel Homepage
• Aliso Niguel Girls Volleyball Homepage
• Aliso Niguel Football Homepage